Hopper car



Sept. 8, 1931. 'w, E: wlNE 1,822,836

HOPPER CAR Filed Sept. 8, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m (.814 aj 5 Patented Sept. 8, 1931 eeann WILLIAM E. WINE, OF TOLEDO, OHIO HOPPER CAR ApPLlG ltiUn-fi]- ed September 8, 1930; Serial No. 480,507.

My invention relates to railway hopper cars and more particularly to wheel hoods which are adapted to be associated with slope or inclined floor sheets of such cars.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a wheel hood of simple and rugged construction which may be attached to the slope sheet of the car in such a manner as notto interfere with or retard the flow of lading down the slope sheet A primary feature of the invention consists in providing a wheel hood with a top wall having downwardly divergingportions disposed on opposite sides of its longitudinal l5 axis, the topwall being formed with an up wardly projecting rigidifying flange which extends substantially continuously from one en'dthereof to the other and is disposed adjacent the point of intersection of the diverg- 0 ing portions.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing the interior of the downwardly diverging portions-of the top wall of thewheel hood with a plurality of rigidifying flanges.

A further feature of the invention consists in providing a wheel hood with a top wall having downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the. hood toward the other and said portions being formed on their inner surfaces with downwardly projecting flanges, the portions also being. rovided adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of said portions increases with'relatively short upwardly proj e-ctin g. flanges.

A still further featureof the invention consists in providing the slope sheet of 'the car with upturned flanges adapted to be secured to the wheel hood in overlapping relation to its inner surfacei Other and morespe'oific features of thein- 45 vention residing in advantageous forms, combinations and relations of parts will hereinafter appear and'be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention,'

59 Figure l is a fragmentary plan view of a railway hopper car showing the wheel hood attached to the slope sheet.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 22,- Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the wheel hood.

Figure 41- is a side eleva-tional view of the wheel hood.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on "line 5-5, Figure 4 of one-half of the wheel hood.

Figurefi is a View partly in section and partly in elevation taken on lineG-G, Figure 3'.

Figure 7 is an enlarged elevational view of one'half of the wheel hood.

Figure 8 is an enlarged sectional view of one-half of the wheel hood takenon line 8-8, Figure 4.

Figure 9 i slope sheet.

Figure '10 is asectional view taken on line 1010, Figure 9. i I

Referring more particularly to the "drawings 1 indicates aportion of a slope sheet of railway hopper car, the sheet forming, as is well'known, the inclined bottom' of one of the car'hoppers. I The wheel hood, desig nated by the'ref'erence numeral 2, forms a cover for an opening 3 formed in the slope sheet to'permit the upper edge of an adjacent. car wheel diagrammatically illustrated at to project above the plane'defined by the slope sheet.

The wheel hood is preferably formed from cast metal and is provided with substai'itially Vertical side walls 5 and a longitudinally arched top wall 6", the latterterminating in a plane passing through the bottom edges of the side walls; To prevent granular lading, such as coaland thelike frombeing poclzet'ed in the'anglefo-rmed by the slope sheet and the s a plan view of a portion of the raise upper endof thefa'rch'ed topwail and thereby retardedin its movement down theslope sheet, the top wall; provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with clownwardly diverging portions 7. Thus it will be seen that granular lading coming into contact with the upper end of the hood will be deflected onto opposite sides of the latter.

Since the lower portion of the arched top wall inclines downwardly toward the slope sheet instead of away from it as does the upper portion of the wall, the divergence of the portions 7 progressively increases from adjacent the upper end of the hood toward the lower end and adjacent the latter end they may advantageously merge into one, thereby forming the hood with a substantially flat surface, transverse sections of which are disposed in substantially horizontal planes.

As, when rounding curves, the wheels of a car not only move angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of the car but also move toward and away from the slope sheet depending upon whether the curve is to the right or to the left, the lower portion of the wheel hood is of greater width than the upper portion. The portions of the side walls 6 adjacent the lower end of the hood are, therefore, disposed in substantially parallel planes while from a point intermediate their ends, such as that designated by the reference numeral 8, they converge toward the upper end of the hood.

The portions of the slope sheet bordering the sides of the opening 3 are flanged upwardly as at 9 for attachment to the side walls of the hood and the portions of the slope sheet bordering the ends of the opening are flanged upwardly as at 10 for attachment to the end portions of the top wall of the hood. In order that all of the flanges may be disposed in planes parallel to the respective portions of the hood to which they are adapted to be secured the flanges 9 are disposed in substantially vertical planes while the flanges 1O incline upwardly and inwardly with respect to the axis of the opening. Instead of securing these flanges to the hood in overlapping relation to the exterior thereof they extend upwardly within the hood and are secured thereto in overlapping relation to its interior. In this manner moisture which may be contained in the lading is prevented from seeping downwardly between the hood and the flanges. Although it may be that a small amount of moisture may seep between the flange 10 adjacent the upper end of the opening and the portion of the hood to which it is attached, the inner surface of this portion of the hood maybe integrally formed with bosses 11 surrounding the opening through which the attaching rivets 12 pass. Thus it will be seen that only relatively small portions of the flange are in contact with the hood, thereby preventing any substantial corrosion of the slope sheet due to moisture which may seep between the parts in metal to metal contact. The inner faces of the side walls may be formed with an inwardly offset portion 13 to receive the slope sheet attaching flanges 9 and they are also preferably formed with lugs or bosses surrounding the apertures 14 through which the attaching rivets extend.

In order that the heads of the rivets will not protrude beyond the outer surface of the side walls and the outer surface of the upper portion of the top wall and thereby impede 0r retard the flow of lading the outer heads of the rivets passing through these portions of the hood are countersunk. Heretofore it has been customary to provide the wheel hood with laterally projecting flanges for attachment to the slope sheet in the plane of the latter and it has been necessary in this construction to secure the slope sheet and hood together by rivets, the heads of which protrude or extend above the plane of the slope sheet. Due'to the fact that the space between the inner side wall of the hood and the adjacent portion of the car center sill is relatively narrow it has been found that the flow of lading down the slope sheet between the hood and the center sill is materially retarded and in some cases actually prevented by the upwardly projecting heads of the attaching rivets. In the present construction, however, this difficulty is entirely overcome not only because the outer heads of the rivets are countersunk but also because the rivets are spaced above the planes'of the slope sheet. The top wall of the hood is rigidified by an upwardly projecting flange 15 which preferably extends substantially continuously from one end of the hood to the other adjacent the point of intersection of the downwardly diverging portions 7. The diverging portions are also provided with ri idifying flanges 16 but these flanges are formed on the inner surface of the top wall and extend downwardly therefrom so as not to present obstructions preventing deflection of the lading on to opposite sides of the hood. As may be seen from the drawings, the flanges 16 are disposed on opposite sides of the'flange 15 and they preferably terminate short of the ends of the top wall so as not to interfere with the attachment of the flanges 10 thereto. Adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of the portions 7 of the top wall increases the latter is formed with relatively short upwardly projecting flanges 17 which are disposed in alinement with and constitute continuations of the downwardly projecting flanges 16. It has been found unnecessary to provide the upper end of the hood with reinforcing flanges similar to the flanges 17 as, due to the cross-sectional shape of this end of the hood, it possesses sufficient rigidity. The hood is also additionally reinforced by a marginal flange 18 which extends around its lower edge and, when the hood is attached'to the slope sheet, rests upon the latter. The flanges 15 and 17, which are formed on the exterior of the hood may, as shown, merge into this marginal flange.

From the foregoing it will be perceived ima es that I have provided an integral wheel hood formed with a number of rigldifying flanges which are so arranged that they will not interfere with or retard the flow of lading. Furthermore, the shape of the hood is such that it prevents pocketing of the lading and it is associated with the slope sheet in such manner as to prevent moisture from accumulating between it and the flanges of the slope sheet to which it is attached.

I claim:

1. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, said top wall being integrally formed with longitudinally extending upwardly projecting flanges adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of the said portions of the top wall increase.

2. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood hav ing a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly cliverging portions, the divergance of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, said wall being integrally provided adjacent the the intersection of said diverging portions with an upwardly projecting substantially vertical flange extending continuously from end to end of the hood. v

3. A cast metal hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, said wall being integrally formed adjacent the intersection of said diverging portions with an upstanding substantially vertical flange extending continuously from one end of the hood to the other and with relatively short upwardly projecting flanges arranged on opposite sides of said first named flange and adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of said portions of the top wall increase.

4. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, each of said diverging portions being provided on its interior with a downwardly projecting longitudinally extending flange.

5. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging'portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adj acent one end of the hood toward the other, said top wall being integrally provided on opposite sides of the intersection of said diverging portions with downwardly project ing flanges. 6. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided in opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the othe'r,said top "wall being integrally provided on opposite sides of the intersectlon of said diverging portions with downwardly projecting flanges and with relatively short upwardly projecting flanges adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of said portions increase.

7 A cast metalwheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having atop wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, said top wall being integrally provided on oppositesides of the intersection of said diverging portions with downwardly projecting flanges which terminate short of the ends of the hood, said wall being also provided adjacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of said portions increase with relatively short upwardly projecting flanges respectively constituting continuations of said downwardly projecting flanges.

8. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a'railway hopper car, said hood having a top wall provided on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis with downwardly diverging portions, the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, said wall being provided on its exterior adjacent the intersection of said diverging portion with a longitudinallyextending rigidifying 'flange and being provided on its interior with a plurality of longitudinally extending rigidifying flanges respectively disposed on opposite sides of said intersection. Y

9. A cast'metal wheel hood for the slope sheet of a railway hopper car, said hood having substantially vertical side walls and an arched top wall, said top wall having downwardly diverging portions and the divergence of said portions progressively increasing from adjacent one end of the hood toward the other, the portions of the side walls adj acent the end of the hood toward which the divergence of said portions of the top wall increase being disposed in substantially parallel planes.

10. A cast metal wheel hood for the slope its sheet of; a railway hopper calg saidthood haning substantially ventical side: and am arched top: wall, said; top wall having; down-- wardly; diverging; portions and. the.- diversgencei of said. portionspizogresstvely HIGPEfl-S:

ing from adjacent one end. ofthe. hood, toward the other, portions of the sidewalls ad-- jacent the end of the hood toward which the divergence oi the said portions. 0t thetop wall. increase; being; disposed" in. substantially parallel planes. and portionsuof the side walls adjacent. the other end of saidihood converge ing toward said end.

H '11. In, a railway ca-r,. a hopper having a slope sheet. provided with anopening above a! wheel of the can, a cover. for said opening constituting a wheel hood said cover hav ing} substantially vertical side walls and: an arched top wall, saids-lope sheet being; pro vided with; upwardly projecting flanges ri g idly secured to said side Walls in overlapping relation to their inner: faces 12'; In: a railway car, a. hoppen havingv a slope sheet. provided with an opening above a wheel of the car, a. cover. for said opening constituting a wheel hoodhsaid cover having substantiallyvertical side walls and alongitudinally arched top terminating in a plane passing through the. lower edges. of the side walls, the. slope sheet'beingprovided with: upturned flanges-1 respectively secured to adjacent portions oii the=top and. sidewalls of. the cover;

1.3; In a. railway car, a: hopper having; a slope sheet provided with. an opening, above awheel- 01% the car, a. cover for said, opening constituting-a wheel hood2, said cover having substantially v vertical. sidewalls and an arched top.- wall, the slope sheet being provided with substantially vertical flanges borderingthe. sides of the opening, for at:- tachment to-the side walls-01f the cover and with upwardlyand inwardly inclined flanges bordering the ends of the opening 01 attachnient tothe top wall. of the cover.

14L. In arailway car, a hoppeizhaving; a slope sheet-provided with an opening above awheelof the car, a cast metalcover for said 7 opening constituting a wheelhood, said cover having a, peripheral rigidifiying rib inen.- gage-mentv withthe slope sheet, the latter having upwardly extending flanges disposed within. thecover and secured. thereto in overlapping relation to-its inner surface.

In testimony whereoii 1i aflix my signature.

VVI-LLIAM E. WINE tumo- 

